ACCUSATIVE CASE

The accusative case has a very important role in the Hungarian language. It makes sentences with a fairly free word order possible. The suffix for it is: -t

What is it all about?

An English direct object must be in a certain position in the sentence so that it can be recognized. A Hungarian direct object is fitted with -t, thus can be recognized anywhere in the sentence. Example:

I SEE THE RIVER. What do I see? The river. River is the direct object which has to have the suffix -t in Hungarian. The Hungarian translation is: Látom a folyót

Basically, the rules for it follow those for the plural form.

TO BEGIN WITH:

Some nouns ending in j, l, ly, n, ny, r, s, sz, z take the suffix -t without link vowels.

bajt  – (cause) trouble
bált – (organize a) ball
villamost – (catch the) tram
kárt – (cause) damage
osztályt – (teach a) class
pillért – (build a) pier
pofont – (give a) wham
regényt – (read a) novel
lépést – (take a)  step
szeszt – (drink) spirit
szószt – (eat) sauce
pénzt – (earn) money

IMPORTANT! If a monosyllabic deep-vowel noun having A, Á takes the plural -OK, then it takes the accusative -T. If such a noun takes the plural -AK, it takes the accusative -AT!

bajok – bajt BUT vajak – vajat
károk – kárt BUT zárak – zárat
bálok – bált BUT tálak – tálat

Remember this first. Next time we’ll talk about the groups we took a look at when discussing the plural.

If you don’t remember how to make nouns plural, then go back to those entries because putting nouns in the accusative case is based on those rules! That being said…

Group 1: A becomes Á, E becomes É at the end of the word like in plural.

alma – almát (apple)
apa – apát (father)
medve – medvét (bear)
lecke – leckét (homework, task)

Nouns ending in any other short vowel never behave like A and E when adding -t. Those vowels (i, ö, u, ü) always stay short: aput (dad), kocsit (car), revüt (revue). Hungarian words never end in short O or Ö, so there is no trouble with them.

Group 2: High -vowel nouns take the accusative suffix -ET or -ÖT. The rules for the plural form with -ET/-ÖT are the same as those for -EK/-ÖK in nominative case: fülek/fület (ear); kürtök/kürtöt (horn)

1. High-vowel nouns containing e, é, i, í, ö, ő ,ü, ű take -ET if ö, ő, ü, ű is NOT in the last syllable.

gyereket (child), széket (chair), füzetet (exercise book)

2. High-vowel nouns whose last syllable contains ö, ő, ü, ű take -ÖT.

gyümölcsöt (fruit), köldököt (navel), erődöt (fortress)

3. Monosyllabic high-vowel nouns ending in one or two consonants and containing ö, ő, ü, ű either take -ET or -ÖT. No rule for them. It is a matter of memorization. Just a few examples:

tököt (marrow), gyököt (root), ködöt (fog), böjtöt (fasting), fürtöt (cluster)…

BUT

őzet (roe), könyvet (book), földet (land)…

4. High-vowel suffixes take -ET or -T (because they take -EK in plural).

emelvényt – platform
teljesítményt – performance
kérést – request
tehetséget – gift (like somebody is gifted)
emeletet – floor, storey
fedezetet – cover
kertészt – gardener

Group 3: Deep-vowel nouns take -OT or -AT. (again, remember the plural)

1. Standard deep-vowel nouns take -OT.

családot (family), kalapot (hat), vonatot (train)

2. Two monosyllabic nouns having short o take -AT: fogat (tooth), tollat (pen)

3. Some monosyllabic nouns having A, Á in them take the accusative -AT. They must be memorized. A few examples:

zárat (lock), kádat (bath-tub), vállat (shoulder)

4. Monosyllabic deep-vowel nouns ending in two consonants and having A, Á either take -OT or -AT. Memorize!

társat (mate), nyársat (prod)…

BUT

lángot (flame), táncot (dance)…

5. Deep-vowel suffixes take -OT or -T. (remember the plural)

utalványt – voucher
szállítmányt – shipment
vágást – cutting
válságot – crisis
falatot – bite
fokozatot – degree
jogászt – jurist

Group 4: DROP-VOWEL NOUNS

Once again ( I know I’m repeating myself) if you know how to make nouns plural, you know how to make them accusative. Remember those steps? At the end you add -T instead of -K. That’s all!

Plural: BOKOR – BOKR – BOKRO – BOKROK

Accusative: BOKOR – BOKR – BOKRO – BOKROT

That’s it! More examples with both plural and accusative:

eper  – eprek – epret (strawberry)
átok – átkok – átkot (curse)
vödör – vödrök – vödröt (bucket)
torony – tornyok – tornyot (tower)
ajak – ajkak – ajkat (lips)
méreg – mérgek – mérget (poison)
érem – érmek – érmet (medal)
nyereg – nyergek – nyerget (saddle)
üröm – ürmök – ürmöt (artemisia)
izom – izmok – izmot (muscle)
vászon – vásznak – vásznat (canvas)

As you see, vászon is an exception within the exception: the O becomes A. Some nouns like sarok (ankle/corner) have two versions: sarkat (ankle)/sarkot (corner). You can take a look at the rest of them if you download the book in the ‘Download the grammar book’ category.

Group 5: NOUNS WITH THE LAST VOWEL SHORTENED

Examples with plural and accusative to give you a reference:

szél – szelek – szelet (wind)
kötél – kötelek – kötelet (rope)
kenyér – kenyerek – kenyeret (bread)

madár – madarak – madarat (bird)
kanál – kanalak – kanalat (spoon)
nyár – nyarak – nyarat (summer)

út – utak – utat (road)
kút – kutak – kutat (well)

There are dozens of nouns like these above, but there is no rule for them. It is a matter of memorization. Most nouns having similar forms don’t change: tányér – tányérok – tányért (plate), méz – mézek – mézet (honey), etc. Usually nouns ending in -ár/-ér, -ál/-él fall under this shortened vowel category.

Group 6: V- NOUNS

V-nouns get a V inserted in the plural and in the accusative, too. Those few words are:

kő – kövek – követ (stone)
cső – csövek – csövet (tube)
tő – tövek – tövet (root)

ló  – lovak – lovat (horse)
tó – tavak – tavat (lake)
hó – havak – havat (snow) > the Ó becomes A

mű – művek – művet (works, factory) > the Ű does not change
nyű – nyüvek – nyüvet (maggot)
fű – füvek – füvet (grass)

Other nouns with two plural forms have two forms for the accusative case.

mag – magot – magvat (seed)
lé – lét – levet (juice)
daru – darut – darvat (crane)
falu – falut – falvat (village)
tetű – tetűt – tetvet (cootie)
szó – szót ! (word) ONE ACCUSATIVE CASE AND THE PLURAL IS SZÓKAT or SZAVAKAT!
fattyú – fattyút – fattyat (bastard)

Group 7: MIXED NOUNS

Mixed nouns are mixed because they contain e, é, i, í + a deep-vowel.

1. Mixed words i, í + plus a deep vowel take the accusative suffix -OT or -T. (The plural is -OK, remember!)

iratot (document), kavicsot (pebble), tintát (ink)

Obviously nouns ending in a vowel like ‘tinta’ belong to this category, too. They just get a -t because they end in a vowel.

Also, remember that some nouns ending in a certain consonant (see above Group 1) simply take -t with no link vowel:

bíborost (cardinal), zivatart (storm)

2. Mixed nouns with e, é  + a deep vowel take –OT or -T.

sétányt (avenue, promenade), játékot (toy), ajándékot (present, gift)

3. Monosyllabic nouns containing long í are either high or deep. Remember their plural form because then you know the accusative suffix, too: -OT, -AT, -ET.

gyíkot (lizard), síkot (plane), sípot (fife), csíkot (stripe)

díjat (award/fee), íjat (bow), szíjat (strap), ín-inat (tendon), nyíl-nyilat (arrow), híd-hidat (bridge)

ívet (arch), rímet (rhyme), címet (title), víz-vizet (water)

AND csíny (prank), kín (pain), íny (gums), sír (tomb), szín (colour), ír (Irish), dísz (ornament), hír (news), sín (rail), íz (flavour), rizs (rice) become: csínyt, kínt, ínyt, sírt, színt, írt, dísz, hírt, sínt, ízt, rizst. But if you refer to an Irish person, it is better to say: ír férfit, ír nőt.

The three long ú nouns take -AT: borjú – borjat (calf), varjú-varjat (crow), fiú-fiút-fiat (boy-son)

Group 8: COMPOUND WORDS

Compound nouns are made accusative according to the last noun.

házépítést – house construction
rövidnadrágot – shorts
fénykardot – light saber

Group 9: ADOPTED WORDS OR LOAN-WORDS

hotelt (hotel), fotelt (armchair), dizájnt (design), ímélt (e-mail), hárdvert (hardware), szoftvert (software), kommunikációt (communication)

SUPPLEMENTAL

férfi – férfiak – férfit (man) DEEP-VOWEL WORD!

ujj – ujjak – ujjat (finger) DEEP-VOWEL WORD!

arany – aranyak – aranyat  (gold) DEEP-VOWEL WORD!

E-Ö words: csend/csönd – csendet/csöndet (silence)

cseppet/csöppöt-csöppet: csepp/csöpp means drop (like a drop of water); If the the accusative is csöppet, it means a bit. If the accusative is csöppöt, then it’s the accusative for drop!!

PLURAL FOR ACCUSATIVE CASE

Example for the plural form for nouns in accusative case:

ház – házak – házat – házakat

So you first make the noun plural and then accusative with a link vowel because there’s a -k plural suffix. That’s all. But let’s see more examples:

szem – szemek – szemet – szemeket (high-vowel noun) / eyes

dolog – dolgok – dolgot – dolgokat (drop-vowel noun) / things

szamár – szamarak – szamarat – szamarakat (last vowel shortened) / donkeys

ív – ívek – ívet – íveket (monosyllabic high-vowel noun) / archs

and so on…

So remember! FIRST PLURAL + THEN ATTACH ACCUSATIVE! = NOUN + LINK VOWEL (if needed) + -K + LINK VOWEL + -T